Baby Steps
by Straying Life
Summary: AU. With his family gone, Danny Fenton was taken into the Teen Titans’ care. As he grew older, he found a few powers of his own. But when a war between this Phantom ghost and the Titans starts, will it rage in the tower?
1. Foster Home

I COULDN'T RESIST IT! I just couldn't! Yes, it's a Teen Titans crossover, but it's not your usual deal. It's a nice fusion! Plus, right now, I can only study. Dammit, I have a view of the stupid 'for sale' sign in our yard…

And if you're wondering why I updated: **I AM LEAVING FOR ENGLAND THIS VERY SATURDAY. I AM NOT ABOUT TO LEAVE FOR A MONTH WITHOUT DUMPING STUFF ON YOU!**

And yes, I do know the ages are screwed up. As this is an AU story, let's just say that the Titans' aging kind of halted until Danny caught up with them, okay? Yeah, when Slade put in those micro-whatevers into their blood streams, it had a side effect of…them not being able to age for…fifteen years. Yeah. That's it…

SUMMARY: AU. With his family gone, Danny Fenton was taken into the Teen Titans' care. As he grew older, he watched his so-called family and found a few powers of his own. But when a war between this Phantom ghost and the Titans starts, will it rage in the tower?

DISCLAIMER: nope. Don't own DP or TT.

RATED: T for…well, something is going to come along that I don't like!

Chapter 1

"Foster Home"

As people ran from the storm, five headed towards it. Two flew, three ran. But no matter what, they all deflected the storm's hits. The lightning had already caused massive fires that were so out of control the rain couldn't even douse it even though it was coming down so hard it might as well have been large chunks of ice. A black shield appeared over the entire cloud storm, which appeared to be a hurricane's eye. Unfortunately, the lightning pierced straight through the shield and the floating teen fell to the ground, cloak and all.

"Raven!" cried a red-haired g i r l, also floating. She was about to fly down to Raven, but a boy with a mask over his eyes stopped her.

"STAR! Don't, we need your help!"

"But Raven—!"

"Raven's a big kid! She can take care of herself!" Star reluctantly abandoned the pale youth and joined into the fight. Eventually, the storm withered away with two kids in the clouds scurrying away with them.

"Yo, what happened to her?" asked a large, dark boy. Half of his body consisted of metal and robotics.

"She was thrown back when the lightning hit her," said the masked boy.

"Robin, will she be fine?" asked Star. Robin sighed.

"Star, relax," said the green-skinned boy. "She'll be fine!" In an undertone, he added, "Trust me."

"Are you sure? I cannot help but feel that she is not fine!" Before an argument started, an anguished cry stopped them.

"What was that?" said Robin, shushing everyone to see if it would come again.

Indeed it did, and it was louder than before. It was raucous and hysterical, and matched the noise of a baby.

"It's a…it is a child!" gasped Starfire, clasping one hand over her mouth, forgetting all about Raven, who was beginning to wake up. The five teens flew over to where the sound was coming from and found a tiny toddler under a car. With the smallest hints of black hair and shining blue eyes, Starfire grabbed him and pressed him against her chest.

"What a cute child! We must take him!"

"Star, I don't think that's such a good idea…" said Robin. "His parents might be looking for him."

"Dude," said Beast Boy, "Do you see anyone around here?"

"They might be coming!"

"How is a baby going to get under a car like that with his parents nowhere near?" said Raven grumpily. "And what are the chances of them finding him here?"

Sighing, Robin said, "Fine, let's take him. But everyone has to help raise him!" Starfire squealed and immediately agreed.

12345678987654321

"We have Slade on 4th Street!" yelled Robin, the team springing to the door wherever they were. Raven had to make an extra stop, though. Knocking on Danny's door, she walked in.

"Danny?" she said quietly.

"Here, Aunty Raven!" said the eight-year-old playfully. Raven sighed; she despised the title she had been given. The rest of the team couldn't let her live it down now.

"Danny, we're going out for a while, okay? Just stay in your room and play, alright?" Danny nodded and Raven shut the door behind her. The team left the tower to protect Jump City once again. And just like that, once again, he was left alone by himself, no one to help him, no one to love him.

12345678987654321

"This is boring!" said twelve-year-old Danny to particularly no one. Brushing his rather long hair out of his face, he tucked it behind his air. He knew it was dumb to try, as his hair was too short to be tucked behind the ear but too long to be ignored.

He walked out of his room although many times he had been told not to. Despite her strange behavior, Danny liked Raven the best. She was straightforward and pretty much predictable, but not so predictable that she was boring. There was always mystery about her, and that she still had time to talk with Danny was all the difference. Starfire was actually kind of…scary…especially her cooking…

Danny headed downstairs to the kitchen, which overlooked the living room. "Whoa…" he muttered. He was about to head down to the couch and play video games, but he tripped on something. "Stupid tofu—!" he yelled before tumbling down another flight of stairs, and then another, and then another.

"Whoa…times two!" he exclaimed. A large table full of beakers and test tubes and tons of chemicals stood against the wall. In various areas of the room were piles of notebooks. Walking over to a pile, Danny flipped through one. Immediately he shut it. "Waaaay too much math," he said.

Walking over to the table itself, he tripped on his own shoelace. "Why again!" he muttered when he hit the floor. Unfortunately he had hit the table, and hard. It began to collapse on him.

The pink liquid mixed with the orange. The Cola can tipped over and added its own fluid to the mix. The table tipped over and the mixture fell on his hands. The other chemicals fell on him as the beakers and test tubes broke open.

"AAAH!" Danny shrieked. When it was over, he was unconscious and the table had fallen behind him. He didn't wake up until hours later. He found his hair white and his eyes a blinding green. He wore a long black overcoat that reminded him of a cross between Raven's cloak and _The Matrix_. He wore a black T-Shirt and white gloves that had a Velcro closing, exposing half of his hand. His pants, black cargo pants, were somehow tucked into knee-high white boots.

"Oh…no…Oh…no…" muttered Danny worriedly. "What am I going to do? Man, Robin's gonna kill me for this!" A squeak sounded and he knew they were home. "Oh…no." Somehow, though, when Robin came down and checked to see if anything was down here, he sighed and said, "I told her…it was a bad idea." But it appeared that he didn't see Danny. Danny sighed and the next thing he knew he was in his room and looking normal. The darkness sort of hurt his eyes after being down there in the light, but he adjusted and wiped some sweat off his forehead; he was just being dumb.

The door opened and light flooded in, making Danny an angel against the dark backdrop. There stood Raven, a living, breathing shadow against the light. Two opposites staring at each other, the sound barrier preventing communication.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2: ugh…

Yep, I'm halfway spent. Thinking on how to do this…but it's definitely original. I was hit when I was reading Old Friends (rated M, go figure) and was like, "I should write a DP TT crossover!" But the whole, "OOH LOOKIE I JOINED THE TEAM!" thing got old, so I decided to spice things up a bit. YAY!

Just a few notes in case you got confused: Danny lived in his room his entire life. He was never really allowed out. Plus, he can't go to the barber's to get a haircut. First off, his "parents" wouldn't have time to take him. Second off, I don't think they want anyone to find out about Danny.


	2. Exploration

Baby Steps chapter 2 is back! And yes, the title of the story does mean something. But it won't come in until later…probably not that far into the future, but later.

And if anyone is wondering what Robin meant by "I told her it wasn't a good idea," it was Starfire's sister, Blackfire (is that her name?). I won't go into description of Blackfire, deal with it. I don't know why, but Blackfire seemed like the kind of person (or alien, whatever) who would play with these chemicals.

And just so you know, in the second part of this chapter (where the Titans are arguing over Danny), they are all still sixteen while Danny is only thirteen going on fourteen and the micro-whatevers in their bloodstreams are starting to deteriorate. And for those who don't know when the nanobots were put into their bloodstream, it was during the two-episode long arc called "The Apprentice." Yes. The ones that made them go all red and bubbly and scream in agony.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Danny Phantom or Teen Titans. I DO own this alternate universe, though! (Steals from Clockwork) Ha! Neener.

RATED: T, what else?

Chapter 2

"Exploration"

"Hello, Danny."

"Hi, Raven," he said, his voice croaking.

"How was your day?"

He didn't like her tone. It was menacing, suspicious…he knew that tone…it made other people confess easily. Danny gulped down these thoughts and shrugged, trying to make himself seem careless.

"Okay. Just like any other day."

"Is that so?" questioned Raven. Danny nodded firmly. Raven sighed; she was going to get nothing from him. And she thought that reading his thoughts would lose whatever trust she had with him as it was…and against her better judgment, she liked the boy…he'd make a good friend. Even though she had some decent ones here.

And with that, Raven left the room, allowing Danny to focus more on what happened at that table.

"Oh, man! What happened!" he exclaimed, looking at his hands. Normal. Ungloved. Just like they should—

"AAAAH!" he shrieked when his hands disappeared and then reappeared. Quickly, Starfire entered the room.

"Danny?" she asked. "Are you fine?"

"Yes, Starfire!"

"Are you sure? There is a wonderfully splendid Tamaranian remedy that I may prepare for you if you—"

"No, really. I'm fine."

"I do not believe you are fine!" she exclaimed stubbornly. "One does not scream when one is fine!"

"Oh, fine, Star," he said exasperatedly. Hands behind his back, he clawed at his arm; he had rather sharp nails. "I have a scratch, all right? I just went against something sharp."

Immediately, Starfire flew to him and inspected all areas of his body that he felt comfortable with her inspecting. When she found his arm with the cut in it, she immediately gasped. Danny stared; he hadn't intended to make it so large!

Starfire flew out of the room and returned with four boxes of band-aids and five rolls of Ace bandages. Danny stared even more.

"Star, it's not that bad. Just a band-aid will be fine." Starfire, however, ignored him and proceeded to use every single band-aid and Ace on him. When she was done, Danny couldn't lift his arm entirely well because of all the band-aids. "Gee, thanks, Star," he said sarcastically. Starfire grabbed Danny and gave him a huge bear hug.

"Oh, it was no trouble at all, Danny! Please, next time you are hurt, do not hesitate and hurry to us!"

"O—kay—Star!" Starfire let go and flew out of the room, closing the door gently. Danny sighed, relieved. He began to look at himself again.

What was he? Was he…finally just what he wanted to be? One of the team? Or was he so beyond that that he was just a freak? Who was he? What was he? And when would his questions be answered?

Before he knew it, his lower body was sinking into the floor.

"Hey, why am I shrinking?" he muttered to himself. Looking down, he saw his waist up, but not his legs. He was about to scream, but was worried that Starfire would come back, and then what would he do?

Danny pulled himself up out of the floor. If he…if he was able to pass through things…he might just be able to walk out of this stupid room! But, and this pained him to know, he had to get control over this first, and had to understand what had happened.

So he got to work on it. Every time his family had a case, they left him behind, the perfect training time. During his only excursion out of the room—even the meals were shoved through the door—about a night ago, he found a large room used for training. He used it a lot, from settings such as BEGINNER to ADVANCED EXPERT, comparing his skill from the last visit. He didn't lift the weights in the corner of the room. What for? He was trying to gain control of powers, not build muscles.

By the time he was thirteen-and-a-half, he finally thought that he was able to go outside of the room. After all, his top flying speed was 112 miles per hour, he could go intangible and invisible at will—and sometimes even both—, could shoot blasts, form a shield, and a few more powers.

Danny flew to his room, passing through the door. And took one good look out the window. It looked so great out there…so amazing, so interesting, so…totally mind-blowing. And with that last breathtaking thought, he passed through the wall, invisible and all, taking in all the fresh air he could.

Being outside that stupid tower was better than he had ever imagined.

12345678987654321

"Do you think we should let him out of his room?" said Beast Boy.

"No. He needs to stay in there," said Robin firmly.

"Dude!" shouted Beast Boy. "He's been in there for almost fourteen years! That is not natural!"

"Well, neither are we."

The sentence hung in the air uncomfortably. In no time flat, it seemed the air turned to water, easy to open your mouth and drown.

"That doesn't change it. Just because he's in our care doesn't mean we can deprive him of a normal childhood." Robin shook his head.

"Listen…Raven, I understand, but it's just too hard. I knew it was a bad idea from the start."

"Friends Raven and Beast Boy are right, Robin. Danny has never left his room. He has even received formal schooling in that room. Do you not think it is unhealthy to never leave a room?"

Robin's head was spinning. From the moment he laid eyes on him, he knew he should've left the kid there, just sitting there for his parents to find him. He had enough problems with Slade—not to mention those nanobots in their bodies that had screwed with their aging processes—and whatnot. Babysitting a kid twenty-four-seven was not going to help him.

But his problems had nothing to do with Danny. Danny was some poor kid left on the street after an attack about fourteen years ago. Danny had his own problems, separate from the Titans. Danny had never met anyone outside the group of super-powered teenagers. Danny had never set foot outside his room. Danny was isolated from the rest of the world, and it wasn't doing him any good.

"Fine, let's go up to him," sighed Robin in defeat. The whole team went up to his room and knocked. No response. They opened the door and found the room empty. The only thing there that was even remotely out of place was a fictional book.

"No. Way," said Beast Boy in shock.

"He's…not there."

12345678987654321

Cyborg grabbed the giggling baby right beneath the armpits and began moving him one way and the other. Beast Boy sat opposite Cyborg making funny faces. Unlike most babies, who cried when he did this, Danny laughed joyously.

Raven crossed the room and stopped when she saw what the two were doing with the child. She sighed heavily and began speaking.

"Stop making him rap," she told Cyborg. "And quit it with those freaky faces of yours, Beast Boy." Beast Boy frowned and turned to her.

"Oh, come on, Raven! Don't be such a party pooper!" he exclaimed. "He was having fun!"

"Yep, as fun as having Cyborg stick a wet finger in my ear," she said sarcastically.

"Oh, you're just upset because you can't be Danny!"

Raven lifted her eyebrows.

"You're joking, right?"

Beast Boy didn't have the chance to answer as the whole room fell silent. Danny had muttered, "Ma-ma."

"What did he just say?" asked Beast Boy.

"Ma-ma!" he repeated, as if able to understand the green teenager. Danny's hands were up in the air as if asking for something to come to him. Both Beast Boy and Raven approached him. When close enough, Danny grabbed Raven's cloak, held it tight, and said once again:

"Mama!"

Chapter 2

Chapter 3: later, dammit!

Whoo! That was fun! I was about to include something else here, but then I noticed that wasn't supposed to come in so early, so I dropped it. And the wet finger thing was, in my opinion, a rather obvious reference to the Mad Mod episode.


End file.
